How to get Kodi to show up on the Home Screen of a Fire TV or Fire TV Stick

Software update 5.0.5.1 has added the ability for sideloaded apps, like Kodi, to appear on the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick’s Home screen in the “Recent” list. Some people are finding that, even after the update, Kodi is not appearing on the Home screen. This isn’t because Kodi is being blocked or disabled or anything like that. Here’s how to correct the glitch and make Kodi show up on your device’s Home screen.

This post was updated on October 26, 2017.

The following are several things you can do to make Kodi appear on the Fire TV home screen. You should try them in the order they’re listed on this page. If the first fix doesn’t work, move on to the next one, and then the next one, and so on.

Check your software version

Kodi and other sideloaded apps will only appear on the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick home screen if your device is running software version 5.0.5.1 or newer. Check your device’s software version by going to Settings > System > About, and make sure the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick is on 5.0.5.1 or newer. If you’re not on that version or newer, there’s no point in continuing and trying the next items.

Sync and Restart

Go to the Fire TV Settings area and scroll all the way to the right and select the “My Account” option. Scroll down and select the “Sync Amazon Content” option. Then press Back and select “Device” form the main settings menu. Scroll down and select the “Restart” option. After your Fire TV restarts, wait about a minute before pressing any buttons on the remote so that it has a chance to fully populate the app list.

Have a credit card linked to your Amazon account

If the Amazon account you used to register your Fire TV does not have a billing address and credit card associated with it, apps will not appear on the Home screen or in the Apps section. So, be sure your Amazon Wallet has a valid payment method. (Thanks to Rick in the comments for this tip!)

Kodi & sideloaded apps are at the bottom of the new interface

Starting with software version 5.2.4.0, there is a new Fire TV interface. All sideloaded apps, like Kodi, are usually at the very bottom of the “Your Apps & Games” section after they’re installed. To get to the “Your Apps & Games” section, press and hold the Home button on the remote and select the “Apps” shortcut. Scroll all the way down to see if Kodi is at the bottom. If it is, simply highlight it and press the menu button on your remote. Then select “Move to front” from the set of options that appear in the lower right corner of the screen. If it is not at the bottom, look for it mixed in somewhere among your other apps on the list.

Launch Kodi from Fire TV interface

There are several ways to launch apps through the Fire TV interface. You should try launching Kodi all ways in hopes that the Fire TV registers it as a recent app and adds it to the Home screen.

If you have the new interface (v5.2.4.0 and newer):
Scroll down the home screen to the “YOUR APPS & GAMES” row. Then scroll all the way to the right and select “SEE ALL.” Now scroll through this list until you find Kodi and launch it. Kodi will probably be at the very bottom. You should also go to the Fire TV’s settings section, scroll to Applications, down to Manage Installed Applications, then find Kodi and launch it from there.

If you have the old interface (v5.2.2.0 and older):
Scroll down to the Apps sections of the main Fire TV interface and launch Kodi from there. If Kodi is not in your Apps section, it’s okay, just continue with this step. Next, while on the Home screen, double press the Home button on your remote to bring up the App drawer and launch Kodi from there. Lastly, navigate to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications and launch Kodi from that list.

Add Kodi as a Favorite app (v5.2.2.0 and older only)

Usually, if Kodi isn’t appearing on the Home screen, it also doesn’t appear in the Apps section. But, if Kodi does appear in the Apps section only (and you’ve verified your Fire TV is on version 5.0.5.1 or newer), then try marking Kodi as a favorite app in the Apps section. Then launch Kodi and see if it appears on the home screen. (Thanks to scofield27 in the comments for this tip!)

Delete Kodi from your Amazon purchase history

Check your personal Amazon app library and delete Kodi if it is one of the apps on the list. To see your app library list, click here or select “Your Android Apps & Devices” from the account menu on Amazon.com. If Kodi is on the list, click the “Action” button next to Kodi and select to delete the app. Then, go to your Fire TV’s Settings > My Account menu and click the Sync Amazon Content option. Then restart your Fire TV and, once the Fire TV is back up and running, launch Kodi and see if Kodi shows up on the home screen.

Clear Amazon’s Appstore app data

On your Fire TV, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications and find the Appstore app. Select it and then select the Clear data option and then the Clear cache option. Then restart your Fire TV and, once the Fire TV is back up and running, launch Kodi and see if Kodi shows up on the home screen.

Deregister and register your Fire TV

Go to Settings > My Account > Amazon Account and then select Deregister. This will log you out of your Amazon account on the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Then you just need to log back in with the same account. Doing this will not uninstall any of your apps or clear any of your app data. If you’ve blocked updates on the device, they will remain blocked. After logging back in, restart your Fire TV and, once the Fire TV is back up and running, launch Kodi and see if Kodi shows up on the home screen. (Thanks to Trevor in the comments for this tip!)

Uninstall and Reinstall Kodi

Uninstall Kodi by going to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications and selecting Kodi from the list and then choosing the Uninstall option. Then sideload Kodi back onto your device using any method you want. Remember that uninstalling Kodi will delete all of your Kodi settings, plugins, and data, so you may want to backup Kodi first. After reinstalling Kodi, restart your Fire TV and, once the Fire TV is back up and running, launch Kodi and see if Kodi shows up on the home screen.

If you’re rooted, try installing Fire OS version 5.0.5.1

If your Fire TV is rooted with TWRP custom recovery installed, you could try installing pre-rooted ROM version 5.0.5.1. The reason for this is there is explicit code in that version that deliberately places Kodi on the Home screen after the OS installs. If your Fire TV is on version 5.2.1.0 or newer, it is safe to downgrade. You can always re-install a newer pre-rooted ROM after this step. Be sure Kodi is already installed before installing pre-rooted ROM version 5.0.5.1.

Factory reset your Fire TV

If you’ve done everything above and Kodi is still not appearing on your device’s home screen, the only thing left to try is factory setting your device. Before doing so, be sure you’re aware of what factory resetting means. After factory resetting, you will need to go through the initial setup process again, where your device will try to download the latest update, so if you’re rooted or trying to avoid an update, be sure you’re prepared. Also, don’t forget to re-block updates afterwords, if that’s something you’ve done, because a factory reset will re-enable updates. Obviously, after factory resetting, you will need to reinstall Kodi. You perform a factory reset by going to the Settings > System menu and selecting the Reset to Factory Defaults option. Or by following this guide if you’re rooted. After you’ve reset your device and reinstalled Kodi, if it still does not appear on the Home screen, follow this guide again from the start.

132 comments

This applies to any sideloaded app that was previously available in the Amazon appstore but has been removed. I don’t know if TVMC falls in that category. As far as I’m aware, the only sideloaded apps that haven’t been showing up on the homescreen are the ones that were purchased while they were “official” apps, but are now no longer official apps.

I had the Kodi app on my list of App Store apps so I removed it from there then resynced the Fire Stick with App Store. Kodi still didn’t show up until I de-registered and are-registered the Foster Stick. BIG thanks!

Hi guys & girls.I had the same problem.Kodi icon missing.
Solution:On you fire tv stick,hold home button for about 5 secs,scroll across to apps,click,then click again on Kodi icon,scroll back,then scroll down left side to apps,click apps,there you will see your Kodi icon appear again.Then scroll back up to the top home page & bingo,your Kodi icon is back where it belongs.Hope this helps.

Another method that worked for me and others is to simply De-Register your AFTV device and then simply Re-Register. You may need to Re-Sync your Apps followed by a Re-Boot. But you won’t loose any Apps that you previously had installed including Kodi.

Another reason why the icons won’t load is if your Amazon account does not have a proper billing address and credit card on file. A friend of mine had this issue and I couldn’t understand why the icons wouldn’t work for him.

After further review, turns out that he created a free Amazon account, but never added a credit card. Using this type of account on the AFTV, he wasn’t allowed to install any apps, the Apps sections or Library would be completely empty and the Home/Recent section was also blank.

The minute he added billing details, the icons loaded accordingly after reboot.

When I used the Llama hack with the previous Fire OS, I could add 300×300 pixel icons for Kodi and other sideloaded apps to the image cache directory. This image quality was on par with the other icons in the Recent menu. However, the 5.0.5.1 OS uses low quality thumbnails for the sideloaded apps. Has anyone figured out a way to change this so that the feature looks more consistent with other images?

Perfect! Used a nice 300×300 png for Boat Browser. Looks great in Recent menu. Thanks very much. This is actually easier than the method with the old OS that utilized Llama, donor apps, and swapping out preview icons with long file names.

I had to delete Ikono TV app from Amazon site because at one time that was the sacrificial app I used when I setup Brother-in-Laws Fire TV stick via Llama. It took me awhile to figure out what was wrong but deleting Ikono TV worked.

Here’s the Kodi 16.0 Jarvis stable version with a blue 300×300 pixel icon. Tested and works. Make sure you have deleted previous versions, removed low res icon from recent menu, and correctly set up your audio panel:

Dolby Digital 5.1, AAC 5.1. and DTS audio through an optical connection to AVR work correctly with this version of Kodi. Just make sure you have the advanced system audio section set correctly with 2.0 channel, enable pass through, DTS receiver, and transcoding checked.

Dumb question… Can I ignore this setting if I am not using an optical connection, i.e. HDMI into a sound bar, or HDMI directly into a TV? I others words, I will not hear a difference if I am using HDMI out?

Yes, you may ignore and just use default. But if you use HDMI to a receiver with multiple speakers, ensure you have AC3, DTS, pass through, and transcoding checked. Unfortunately, although this enables full enjoyment of Kodi, most of its streaming content is 2.0 stereo due to bandwidth.

When I register the account under a dummy account it is now insisting to put credit card info in and also insists that its a new account and not one used already…did they change this to one device per dummy account or no more dummy accounts?

I set up a dummy account no CD info on it and everything works. I given this out to baby if my friends it’s still working. If kodi didn’t appear on the home screen. Go to settings and applications then installed apps. Then it will be in there. Click it and then it well now appear on the home screen.

It’s important to note you need to launch Kode (or SPMC in my case) from either Amazon’s app launcher or the Settings -> Manage Apps method.

If you launch it from FireStarter it will never appear on the recent list.

I ended up doing everything listed above (besides a factory reset) and had noticed it was showing on the list of apps at some point, but not recent apps. But I kept running it from FireStarter. First time I ran it from the Amazon launcher it showed up immediately in Recent. Wish I thought about that sooner.

So im now have the Upgrage version 5.0.5.1 for myAmazonFireTv Gen1
and my sideloaded Apps are being displayed in the apps section
and also in the recent section, for example Firefox, Mediahhh TV (sideloaded version, as the original in the Amazon store stopped working)
without having to add them to the favorite app.

But unfortunatley Kodi15.2/16 doesnt show in the apps section or when I launch it the old way it doesnt show in the recent section, so I tried all the methods above but none of them worked, the last option was to reset the FireTV back to the factory setting, basicly putting it back in its original state.

I then transfered Kodi 16 to the FireTV, I use the Sideloader app on my ios device and then launched the app the old original way and
then shut it down, and Kodi was displayed in the Apps section and also
in the recent section, I reset my FireTV and tried to launch Kodi from the recent section and Yes Kodi now works, Super!!!

I then added back Firefox and a couple of other sideloaded apps and they all appear in the apps section and also in the recent section.

I then transferd Mediahhh TV to the FireTV and as before launced it the old way and then closed the app, I was then expecting it to also
appear in the Apps and recent section, but its noware to bee seen,
I then tried a few of the methods mentioned above, deregister and register, clear app store data, coundnt add as favorite as it is not displayed in the apps section. I dont really want todo a Factory reset again, so im at a loss why Mediahhh TV doesnt display on the FireTV home screen, but on the bright side Kodi does…

deregistered/re-registered AFTV, Kodi appeared in recent list, all was well. However something happened and it disappeared. I De/Re-registered and it appeared again. Maybe some spurious event like a random power-off corrupted the settings – seems that I might need to re-register every time this happens in future…

I went through every step in the post and none of them worked for me on my AFTV1. I went back to FireStopper and interestingly enough that appears in my apps but not Kodi. I’ll continue to use FireStopper.

2 weeks ago my fire stick on 5.2.0.1 stopped showing Kodi.not in recent and not in apps.
Tries every trick including a full reset and reinstall… still not there.
my 4k box had update to 5.2.0.1 a week before that but still had the kodi icon in recent… yesterday it disappeared. I have tried everything again (except reset and reinstall) on the list to get it to work. still not working.

Yes, i cleared the cache and data of the appstore, i removed kodi from my purchase history, deregistered and reregistered the device, re-synced the app, and i restarted the stick, and finally i got kodi on the homescreen. I don’t know which one made it to appear, but definitely one of them worked.

Thanks so much for the solutions presented here! After hours of frustration, deleting KODI from my App history — a “purchase” made a long time ago and since forgotten — did the trick! Thanks again for all the wonderful tips your site brings.

I’m using the remote app on my phonend as lost the fire stick remote….I get the home screen up easy and can navigate my way around the stick but when I try to go into Kodi it says the app is not connected to my Amazon account.Help??? Don’t understand all this registering and deregistering…can someone give me step by step instructions what I need to press on my phone/remote and what I need to go onto on the stick please?

On the Home screen use your Fire TV remote and scroll down to Your Apps & Games.
Right click your remote’s large circular button until you get to “See All,” then select it.
Next, find the Kodi app but don’t click on it. Instead, click on the button with the three horizontal lines on your remote while hovering over it.
remote options
You should see a few options to choose from on the lower right-hand side of your TV screen. You can “Move,” “Move to front,” or “Uninstall” the Kodi app.
App Options
If you want Kodi at the front of your Apps & Games list, click “Move to front” Otherwise, click on “Move” and you’ll get the chance to place Kodi where you’d like it to appear in the list.

I updated my Kodi from 16 to 17.3 and wasn’t able to have Kodi appear in the recent section. I tried everything possible and the ONE thing that worked was deregistering and deregistering my account. Thank you so much, I was going crazy. Lol

I went through all the above stages after many many hours I did force stop Kodi – clear data / cache then at this point physically pulled the fire stick out waited 20 secs put back in – launch Kodi and up it came

thank you it was driving me nuts, i did everything including deleting and reinstalling kodi and nothing worked but then i read here deregister device then sign back in and there was the kodi app in my home screen

This worked for me.
Clear Amazon’s Appstore app data
On your Fire TV, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications and find the Appstore app. Select it and then select the Clear data option and then the Clear cache option. Then restart your Fire TV and, once the Fire TV is back up and running, launch Kodi and see if Kodi shows up on the home screen.

After installing Kodi 17.6 if you do not see it on your Amazon fire TV home page. Click down with the Alexa Voice remote until you see “Your Apps & Games” then stroll all the way to the right and click on “See All.” When you see the Kodi app highlight it then click the the options button (=) and you have a choice to Move, Move to front, More Info or Remove from Cloud. I moved it to the front without changing anything else. Hope this helps!

A big THANKS TO YOU! I’m having to learn all this on my own from scratch and without y’alls help, support, and easy, step by step tutorials and instructions, I wouldn’t have been able to install kodi by myself this morning, easily & quickly, while drinking my coffee, without 1 problem.
But then later on when I couldn’t find my kodi icon in my recent apps, I was kinda puzzled. So I go back to y’all and it walked me straight through each step, in order, untill I found the step that fixed my glitch. My kodi app icon was at the bottom of my apps page, thankfully. Also, y’all taught me something new I didn’t know about, my fire t.v. remote, that holding down the home button was a settings shortcut. That shortcut is extremely handy to know. I appreciate your
shared knowledge that helps so many of us get setup and running even though you don’t have to! Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!Thank you for everything! Merry Christmas & God Bless ✔♥